Body and beautiful Beauty and cleanliness were important to the ancient Greeks In sculptures and on vases, both men and women could be seen wearing elegant, softly-folded garments and standing in graceful Poses (pp.42-43)...

Los Angeles! Paris! Tokyo! London! Barcelona! Sydney 2000! When they think of the Olympic games, we think of the great cities of the world. But the ancient Olympics did not take place in a city, a town or even a village. The home of the ancient Olympics was Olympia, near the west coast of Greece. Nobody really lived there at all. Olympia was only important because it was sacred to Zeus, the king of the gods. It was in his honour that the games were held.

Greek home Most Greek houses were small, with a walled garden or yard in the middle. The house was made of sun- dried mud brick. Mud houses crumbled away in a few years, and had to rebuild. What we know comes mostly from writings and pictures. The house had a roof of clay tiles, and small windows, with no glass, but wooden shutters to keep out the hot sun. Rich Greeks had slaves - sometimes 50 slaves worked for a rich family. Slaves did the hard work, on the farm, in the fields and workshops and in the house too.

How Ancient Greeks live A Greek woman wore a long tunic, called a chiton, made from a piece of cotton or linen material. It reached the ankles. Over it, she wore a cloak, called a halation - thin for summer, thick for winter, and draped from the shoulders. Young men wore short tunics, older men preferred long ones. Slaves often wore just a strip of cloth (a loincloth). Many people went barefoot. Some wore leather sandals or, for horse-riding, high boots. Men and women wore wide-brimmed hats, to shade their heads from the hot sun. We know Greeks liked jewellery, because jewels were buried with dead people in their tombs.

How ancient Greeks grow up Many Greek parents wanted boy children. A son would look after his parents in old age. A daughter went away when she married, and had to take a wedding gift or dowry. This could be expensive, if a family had lots of daughters. A father could decide whether or not the family kept a new baby. Unwanted or weak babies were sometimes left to die outdoors. Anyone finding an abandoned baby could adopt it and take it home, perhaps to raise it as a slave. If a couple were rich, they might hire a poor neighbour or a slave to nurse a new baby.

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